Police forces - Europe

FEATURE: Europol’s latest Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) highlights the rapidly expanding cybercrime threat, and underlines the need for law enforcement agencies to harness technology, push for tighter regulations and work more closely with the private sector in order to deal with that threat, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest report from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) on AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) highlights an “alarming” rate of growth in imagery that is leaving investigators facing a “needle-in-a-haystack challenge”; the IWF is urging governments, tech companies and institutions not to waste the opportunity to act now on AI CSAM imagery, and that ignoring the risks would be “failing children and ourselves”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Nicole Simpson has been named the International Association of Women Police’s Officer of the Year, after demonstrating “exemplary leadership and investigative skills” in a series of high profile cases; she spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need to “think outside the box” and leave rank “at the door” when it comes to investigations, and the importance of instilling pride and confidence in young-in-service officers.

INNOVATION: As policing increasingly looks to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) across a range of roles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth highlights attempts at a European Union level to maximise the potential of the new technology in the community policing environment.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has been given six months to work with the Home Office to produce a long-term, costed IT strategy after the first agency-wide HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspection found that existing systems were “not fit for purpose”; the NCA has also been urged to address staff shortages that impact on analysis capabilities and act on workforce concerns over bullying, harassment and discrimination, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the findings of a recent study that highlights the role that conspiracy theories spread online play in driving extremist beliefs, and explores some of the subjects to be discussed and organisations involved in next month’s Terrorism and Social Media Conference.

OPINION: With proposed policing reform in England and Wales indicating a move towards a combination of a national police service, regional forces and local policing areas, Capgemini Director Jamie Robinson explores the experiences of the Dutch transition from regional police forces to the Dutch National Police in 2013, and considers what lessons there could be from the Netherlands for the UK’s reform process.

FEATURE: The UK is winning the tactical battles but “losing the strategic war” in the fight against serious organised crime (SOC), according to a new report from the Coalition for Global Prosperity, which calls for the introduction of a more coherent strategy that approaches SOC as a national security risk, recognises threats from other states including China, Russia and Iran, and focuses on using existing frameworks to move the fight “upstream”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Child criminal exploitation has long been recognised in the UK – particularly the county lines model – and is a focus for a number of European countries, but understanding of the issue is limited in Australia; Dr Susan Baidawi, an Associate Professor at Monash University, warns that far from being an emerging problem, such exploitation is already a defining contemporary youth justice issue, and one which urgently requires data collection, multi-agency collaboration, and a response embedded in child protection.

FEATURE: A new mental health response and support system based on joint working between An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive, which involves officers with specialist mental health training working alongside clinicians and the creation of a community-based forum for referrals, could be rolled out nationally after a pilot of the Community Access Support Team (CAST) initiative in Limerick saw a significant drop in detentions of those in crisis, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With both Europol and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime highlighting the threats posed by Eastern European and Balkans organised crime groups (OCGs) expanding further across the continent, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the efforts of the EU (through CEPOL), Europol, and international collaborations involving the UK’s National Crime Agency amongst others, to tackle these ‘High-Risk Criminal Networks’.

FEATURE: Ireland’s Policing and Community Safety Authority, the oversight body established in April last year, has set out new Policing Priorities for An Garda Síochána, focusing on working in partnership to meet community needs, providing a consistent, supportive and quality service, and enabling the frontline, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With fraud remaining a constant and growing threat to individuals, businesses and national economies, and with the rapidly developing digital tools available to organised crime groups, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest assessment from Europol of the need for financial services organisations to prioritise post-quantum cryptography – particularly for point-of-sale systems – to protect both consumers and businesses.

FEATURE: With the rapid growth of the internet offering law enforcement and security services huge new quantities of increasingly accessible open-source intelligence (OSINT), AI will play an invaluable role in policing and other organisations’ ability to collate, analyse and provide actionable intelligence from that information, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explains.

OPINION: In the wake of the recent controversy around West Midlands Police’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Aston Villa, a move which eventually led to the retirement of the force’s beleaguered Chief Constable Craig Guildford, former chief superintendent and policing lecturer Owen West, who specialised in crowd policing throughout his career, argues that the case highlights the paucity of good intelligence around football policing, and calls for a review of this major policing function.

FEATURE: Following the publication this week of the police reform proposals for England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at how community and neighbourhood policing can remain a key focus for law enforcement throughout restructuring processes, and how similar reforms in The Netherlands and the work of the European KOBAN project can provide insights for UK policing.

FEATURE: The 2025 mid-year performance assessment of Ireland’s An Garda Síochána, published by the Policing and Community Safety Authority, praises the force’s efforts on enhancing recruitment processes, building public confidence, and seizing drugs and weapons; but the report also raises concerns over the force’s ability to tackle cybercrime, and the ongoing lack of an effective performance management system, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest report from Europol’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre is warning that criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling and people trafficking are now more agile than ever and operate in scalable, structured, global networks, with the exploitation of digital tools and social media alongside a growing willingness to use violence all increasingly parts of the criminals’ armoury, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Policing stands at a pivotal moment in tackling domestic abuse, demanding better alignment, data, culture and technology to protect victims, prevent harm, and drive a smarter, evidence-led systemwide response. Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Domestic Abuse, and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Millichap, the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) Director, introduce the Policing Insight thematic report, ‘Evolving police responses to domestic abuse’.

FEATURE: As law enforcement around the world prepares to face the challenges of 2026, Editor Keith Potter looks back over the key issues Policing Insight covered in 2025 – from structural reform and the approaches to ongoing and evolving crime threats, to workforce wellbeing, the opportunities from artificial intelligence and new technology, and leadership insights – and how these may affect the next 12 months.

FEATURE: A new report from Europol’s Innovation Lab on the impact of robotics and unmanned systems on law enforcement highlights the range of new threats posed by technology such as drones and robots generating new types and patterns of crime, as well as the potential for policing to leverage such technology to respond to many of the key criminal challenges, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: An award-winning pilot project launched by the Norwegian Police Service utilises artificial intelligence (AI), assisted reality and automated processes to help crime scene investigators enhance the quality of investigations during the ‘golden hour’, improve outcomes, and reduce costs; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dr Bente Skattør and Superintendent Kjeld Helland-Hansen about the AI4Interviews project.

FEATURE: A recently foiled plot to assassinate Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever is the latest attempt by terrorists to use 3D printers and drones to create potentially deadly weapons to carry out attacks; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at examples of terrorists employing such technology, the availability of components and manuals to undertake such operations, and what can be done to tackle these threats.

FEATURE: Following this month’s EMPACT day of action across Europe to tackle human trafficking, co-ordinated by Europol, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the scale of the problem as well as the efforts of EU members to combat labour exploitation, and takes a closer look at the background and vital role that Europol now plays in leading and supporting operations to target and investigate transnational European crime.